Bouchon Bakery

The day after Valentine’s Day, I met up with Sarah to watch the Milly fashion show. (One of my closest friends works for Milly; I’m not fashionable, at all, but it was a ton of fun and I loved seeing my friend’s touches here and there in the outfits we viewed, super cool! Congrats again!) Afterwards, while wandering on our way, we decided, being so close to Time Warner Center, we should go have a snack at Bouchon Bakery. Yes, please… yes.

I have this thing for root beer, especially brewers I haven’t yet experienced. Fitz’s is one such brand – I thought it was a nice, light root beer, without a dominating root taste (some root beers can be super birchy or licoricey and I don’t like that). It wasn’t too thick or too sweet, but just the right balance. I would definitely order this again and give it a try if you like root beer.

Just one of the many reasons I adore Sarah is that while she went straight to looking at dessert, I was drawn to the cheese&meat platter… but she was game to get both, so why not? I sadly have no memory recall for names of meats and cheeses (which gets me in trouble when I try to remember what I liked next time), but each and every single one of these was delicious, while we both had our favorites. I enjoyed smearing the not-too-goaty soft cheese on the thick country bread with some apricot compote and taking nibbles of the crunchy almonds, the pickled veggies and fatty meats… so good. This was just about the perfect snack for a perfect day of bliss for both of us, still riding on our respective highs from the night prior.

As for the dessert that caught Sarah’s eye… well, I immediately said “oh my god!” when I saw it listed on the menu. Blood orange yogurt panna cotta. If you read yesterday’s post, you know why I said that: it’s what I wanted to make but failed to find any blood oranges. Well, good to know that other people far more culinarily talented than I had the same idea…! Plus they were able to execute it to this – just astonishingly delicious level; the panna cotta was creamy, smooth, and while it was apparent that it was made from yogurt, it didn’t affect my enjoyment of it, wow. The blood orange countered the sweetness perfectly and honestly, overall, this is just the heights of dessert that I can only hope to achieve one day; the perfect bite with a bit of acidity from the blood orange, a little sweetness, and then texture from the chocolate layer. Absolute perfection. Sarah and I agreed: this was dessert nirvana.

Yvo says: This was the perfect shared afternoon snack for two girls to gab while devouring; service was pleasant and unobtrusive, the light inside TWC is perfect in the early afternoon, and it just continued our happy highs for the rest of the day…. parfait!highly recommended

Comments

I believe it came out to around $40 for the two of us (plus an espresso for Sarah). The meats/cheeses were around $17 I think, and the dessert was probably around the $10 mark (maybe just a little under).

Fitz is a St. Louis original. If you ever find yourself there (it’s a great town for baseball), you have to visit where they make Fitz. Not only do they let you watch them make it, there’s a nice cafe attached and it’s in a cool area called the Loop, which is adjacent to the “University City.” But don’t order the Creme Soda. It’s way too cloyingly sweet.